Video: Cop takes down man in NY subway station

The activist who recorded the video claims it shows excessive force

By PoliceOne Staff

NEW YORK — Video of an arrest inside a subway station is being used by a local activist who recorded it to claim officers used excessive force.

"This kind of excessive force, sometimes it’s captured, sometimes not," activist David Galarza said at a screening of the video for reporters at a Latino community center. "There was an arrest of a young man, but not of the officer who did the groping, and who did the choking."

Galarza "instinctively" pulled out his phone to begin recording when he saw the officer approach Sean Pagan, 19, at the Coney Island station Thursday night, The New York Times reported.

According to a police spokesman, Pagan didn't pay a subway fare and refused to show ID to the officer. The New York Daily News said he was seen writing graffiti in a restricted area.

In the video, the officer frisks Pagan, then takes him down to the ground. He repeatedly says to stop resisting arrest.

Pagan was charged with theft of services, resisting officers, criminal mischief, making graffiti and trespassing. He was held overnight.